The company, among the world’s largest suppliers of HIV/AIDS medicines, said January-March net profit was 2.61 billion rupees ($44.33 million), compared with 2.68 billion rupees a year earlier. Analysts on average expected 2.76 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Cipla, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in India, gets more than half its revenue through exports to nearly 180 overseas markets, including Africa, Latin America and the United States.

Shares of the company, down 6.4 percent so far this year, closed down 2 percent on Thursday, in line with the main Mumbai market. ($1 = 58.8750 Indian Rupees) (Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in Mumbai; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)